Spotlight Stories

Master Gardeners & the Juvenile Justice System

UCCE Master Gardeners received outstanding recognition with the “Search for Excellence” award. They created a new program called MG Growing Opportunities (MG-GO) which provides research-based horticulture education to teenage youth involved with the juvenile justice system.

Under the guidance of UC Master Gardeners and a vocational horticultural therapist, incarcerated youth learn about ecosystem friendly, sustainable gardening. In the process, the youth acquire vocational and life skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, self-esteem and leadership. The goals of MG-GO are to introduce sustainable gardening practices to an under-served population, highlight gardening as a healing endeavor and develop a replicable model for statewide use.